Streetcar Quotes Scene 5 Flashcards
Summary:
Eunice and Steve get into a fight upstairs, they talk about star signs, then Stanley questions Blanche about Laurel - she is clearly uncomfortable. Stella and Stanley then leave to go to a bar with Steve and Eunice, whilst Blanche is left on her own to think about her upcoming date.
“You haven’t heard any - unkind - gossip about me?”
“Have got to be seductive - put on soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings, and glow” (contrasts scene 1)
“I’ve run for protection, from under one leaky roof to another leaky roof - because it was all storm”
“You’ve got to be soft and attractive. And I - I’m fading now!” - monologue is the crux of her character, has to be “seductive”. “Temporary magic”, mirrors scene 9 “I don’t want realism”
Tragedy mixes pity and terror (Aristotle).
“I don’t listen to you when you are being morbid” - comic puncturing
“with abrupt change to gaiety”
“don’t even admit your existence unless they are making love to you”
“Did it stain? / “Not a bit. Isn’t that lucky?”
“I want to deceive him enough to make him - want me.” - calculating
“I want to rest! I want to breathe quietly again”
“Steve bounds after her with goat-like screeches” (parallels)
“picks up the hand mirror”
“Virgo is the virgin” - ironic, the audience knows that she’s not one.
“Well, this somebody named Shaw” - immediate contrast with her being the virgin / breaks her facade.
“I’ve got to be good and keep my hands off children” / “a little bit of eternity dropped in your hands” - metaphor, fleeting moment.
Young man is almost symbolic of the endless procession of possible available men; strangers.
Poetic language when talking to the young man = establishes her maturity & her socioeconomic superiority / intellect due to upbringing.
Makes her offence on the young man seem worse - she’s more experienced
“My Rosenkavalier!” = opera where the leading character is getting older, has to pass the baton of loveability onto the young - much like Blanche, except she has no one to pass her family’s legacy onto.
“Bow to me first!” living in an old-fashioned, Old Southern world.
“jerks” , “slams” , “throws” / “at each noise Blanche winces slightly”
“They love to bang things around!” - hegemonic masculinity
“The Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment I would dare to be seen in!” / “Yes, I’ve seen it and smelled it” - contrast between truth vs lie, revealing vs hiding - she’s in denial.
“I never was hard or self-sufficient enough” - moment of honesty after Stanley nearly stripped away her facade.
“I’m not ‘putting out’” - would like to settle with Mitch / “I haven’t informed him of my real age” / “Why are you so sensitive about your age?” (realistic)
“You make my mouth water” - predatory imagery.
Repetition of “no, ma’am”. Living in different worlds; difference in maturity.
